Sabres Sign Louis Crevier To Four-Year Extension

A 2020 seventh-round draft pick, Crevier was a significant developmental success story for Chicago.

He spent nearly two full seasons developing with their AHL affiliate, the Rockford IceHogs, and by the time he reached his mid-twenties, Crevier was ready to step into a regular NHL role.

Last season, he scored seven goals and 25 points in 78 games while playing 17:08 per game, including 1:55 per game on the penalty kill.

Crevier is a unique defenseman in that not only does he have rare size and bulk for a blueliner, but he also has an ability to move the puck that most defensemen of his size don’t have. That is the crucial difference that separates him from other towering blueliners across the league, as he is better-situated to handle the demands placed on modern NHL defensemen in a league that increasingly emphasizes defending against forwards with blazing speed.

Last season, Buffalo showed its hand a little bit when they paid a relatively high price to acquire a pair of sizeable defensemen from the Winnipeg Jets, trading a quality prospect in Isak Rosen as well as a second-round pick (among other pieces) to get Logan Stanley and Luke Schenn. But neither Stanley nor Schenn were able to earn the trust of head coach Lindy Ruff, in part because despite their size and physicality, both Schenn and Stanley had clear deficiencies with the puck on their stick.

As a result, the Sabres’ addition of Crevier appeared to be an especially shrewd one, as it gave the team the kind of towering defenseman it was looking for in the Stanley/Schenn trade but without the inability to play with the puck that helped doom Stanley and Schenn’s respective Sabres tenures. Crevier looks almost certain to spend the season in Buffalo’s top four, either skating alongside franchise blueliner Rasmus Dahlin or 2021 No. 1 overall pick Owen Power.

In any case, he seems like a strong candidate to provide Buffalo with surplus value on this new contract. With the way player salaries are exploding across the league, it would come as no surprise if, by the time this new extension kicks in, the $4MM AAV it carries is already seen as a bargain for a player of Crevier’s caliber.